Dixon takes opener at Homestead

HOMESTEAD — The talk before Saturday night's Gainsco Indy 300 was how the extra traffic created by drivers who have never competed on an oval would affect the race.

It took 193 laps before Tony Kanaan ran into the answer when he couldn't dodge the stricken car of Ernesto Viso, who had hit the wall and was drifting down the track.

What looked like a sure win was taken from Kanaan and collected by Scott Dixon, who easily held off Kanaan's teammate, Marco Andretti, to win the IRL IndyCar Series' season-opening event.

"Well, we were catching [Kanaan] quick, and it would have been close at the end," said Dixon, who won for the second time at Homestead-Miami Speedway. "I think Tony and Marco probably had the better cars, but we came through with the win."

Dixon led the first 10 laps before Kanaan moved up to challenge.

When Kanaan fell off, Andretti took up the charge, finally getting the pass completed at lap 75.

After that it was Andretti's show, though Dixon's teammate, Dan Wheldon, the three-time race defending champion, came up from 22nd to fight for the lead.

Kanaan was soon back in the fray after that and took the lead when Andretti guessed wrong and got stuck behind lapped traffic at lap 161, allowing Kanaan to take the lead.

And it looked like it would be Kanaan's night until lap 193 when Viso spun, struck the wall and Kanaan just clipped him with his right front tire as he passed.

Battistini takes Indy Lights

Richard Antinucci was the star until Dillon Battistini took the lead with three laps remaining and ran off to a 1.6848-second win in the Firestone Indy Lights Miami 100.

"This is a little more than I expected," said the 30-year-old Englishman, the 2007 Asian Formula 3 champion who had signed only a few days ago to pilot Panther Racing's second entry. "My first time on an oval was a week ago. ... I'm in shock, really."

In third was Battistini's teammate, Brent Sherman, 2.4 seconds behind Antinucci, followed by Arie Luyendyk Jr., just 0.0542 seconds behind Sherman, a former regular in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Equipment issues

IRL founder and CEO Tony George admitted he had hoped for 14 cars to move over from Champ Car. But "where it settled out at 8, 10, that seems to be a manageable number to get the season going," he said.

A shortage of parts kept Graham Rahal from making the race after he wrecked his car during a Tuesday practice, and Jay Howard just made the field when his team was able to gather enough parts to put his car together after his hard crash in Friday's qualifying.

"We're really challenged from an equipment standpoint," admitted league president Brian Barnhart. "There aren't many spares."

Barnhart expects the situation to be alleviated the last week of April.

"Around [the] Kansas [event]," he said. "So, all of the nine transitioning teams will have 18 cars delivered to them by the end of April. ... Beyond May, if anybody wants to acquire more equipment, Dallara can still build four a month beginning in May."

Sorry, boss

Even George's CEO status couldn't save his team when his two cars, driven by his stepson, Ed Carpenter, and A.J. Foyt IV were moved to the back of the field at the start after their cars failed technical inspection Saturday morning. Carpenter and Foyt had put the Vision Racing cars second and third on the grid.